Effective nursing leadership can help a medical facility remain efficient and maintain a positive reputation. Following the proper nursing leadership principles can help you inspire your nursing team and provide a positive environment for employees, patients, and visitors. In this article, we cover what nursing leadership principles are and list the key nursing leadership principles.
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What is Nursing leadership?
Nursing leadership occurs when nurses in management or senior positions work to guide, motivate, and advise other nurses to achieve goals and provide exemplary patient care. Most nurse leaders are in charge of entire units and oversee all nursing care activities to ensure they run smoothly and efficiently.
Great nurse leaders maintain the safety of all employees and patients by ensuring their teams follow all health and safety standards. Many nurse leaders have several years of experience working in a medical facility and can use this expertise to solve common challenges and create a positive and supportive atmosphere.
9 nursing leadership principles
Nursing leadership principles are characteristics nurses use to cultivate a positive, encouraging, and efficient environment. Showcasing strong nursing leadership principles can cause your unit to experience decreased medical errors, enhanced employee retention, and improved patient satisfaction. Common nursing leadership principles include:
1. Meeting quality standards
Most nurse leaders uphold quality standards in each task they complete, whether working with patients, taking inventory, or completing medical forms. New nurses typically follow the guidance and instruction of nurse leaders. If they see nurse leaders regularly dedicating themselves to excellent performance and service at all times, they may understand that nurse leaders expect the same from them. Many strong nurse leaders strive to meet quality standards and encourage their own teams to do the same by regularly measuring performances and locating improvement areas.
2. Developing emotional intelligence
Since many emotional and high-stress situations can regularly occur in a medical facility, a great nurse leader exhibits emotional intelligence. This allows them to stay calm and professional during any medical emergencies. Displaying proper emotional intelligence helps other nursing team members understand how to calmly approach and resolve certain situations before they escalate. Using effective emotional intelligence also allows nursing leaders to patiently listen to the needs, concerns, and feelings of patients or employees to offer an understanding reaction and effective solution.
3. Obtaining and inspiring integrity
Integrity involves having and using strong morals to make ethical decisions in the workplace. It’s important for nurse leaders to hold strong integrity and find ways to inspire it in their team members. This can lead all employees to make the right choices that benefit the facility and help their patients. Great nurse leaders often teach ethical practices to their team members and use them in their own daily routines to show employees how to make safe and empathetic decisions.
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4. Using critical thinking and problem-solving abilities
There are several challenges that may arise in a medical facility, and it’s important to be ready to handle them. Many employees may look to nurse leaders to make big-picture decisions that impact the well-being of the staff and patients. The choices nurse leaders typically make can vary from inventory to budgets to patient care. Nurse leaders use their advanced problem-solving and critical thinking abilities to weigh positive outcomes against the negatives to provide a solution that benefits the well-being of the facility and keeps it operating smoothly.
5. Collaborating and communicating effectively
All hospital or clinical employees often communicate regularly with every department to ensure each team member remains updated on schedules, training, and procedures. This keeps the facility efficient and free of any confusion that could impact the well-being of patients. Nurse leaders are typically responsible for developing strategies to increase communications throughout the facility.
By improving and encouraging collaboration and communication channels or strategies among team members, employees can feel more comfortable interacting with one another. Effective communication strategies also allow employees to more easily access essential information, which can reduce errors and increase productivity.
6. Encouraging mutual respect among employees
You can create a more comfortable work environment throughout the medical facility by acting respectfully toward employees and encouraging it others at all times. This allows you to cultivate a more empowering workplace that builds employees’ confidence, which can enhance their overall performance. You can teach employees to remain positive and courteous when interacting with one another to create a more pleasant and productive environment.
7. Remaining professional at all times
As a nurse leader, you typically represent the unit you oversee. Board members or senior members of the medical facility may use you as the primary contact to learn about the progress of your department and its employees. Try to remain professional and courteous at all times and demonstrate this to employees to help them better understand how to behave in a medical facility.
8. Prioritizing patients and their families
Maintaining effective customer satisfaction increases the likelihood that more patients may return to the facility and recommend it to others. Great nurse leaders consistently find opportunities to improve the experience of customers by being patient and responsive to their needs. Consider training the nursing team on the importance of providing attentive and personalized care. Encourage employees to remain polite and courteous both when interacting with patients in person and over the phone to ensure a positive experience at all times.
9. Improving employee satisfaction
To improve employee retention rates, impressive nursing leaders ensure all team members feel appreciated for their hard work and commitment to their roles. Regularly find ways to improve employees’ work conditions and experiences. You can ask employees for their feedback and suggestions to make their work lives more enjoyable. Consider providing them with constant words of encouragement as well to let them know you notice, value, and appreciate their time.
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